A CLOISONNE ENAMEL DISH MING DYNASTY

the gently curved shallow sides rising from a short tapering foot to an everted rim, brightly decorated to the interior with a medallion enclosing five chilong, encircled at the well by a leafy lotus scroll and gilt rim, the exterior similarly decorated with a lotus scroll 

A very similar dish, possibly the pair to the present piece, from the collection of Miss. A. C. Kemp, is illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonne Enamels, London, 1962, pl. 51B. Garner ibid., p. 82 notes that  the same design of dragons appears in a roundel on a piece of seventeenth century kesi in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The present dish is inspired by earlier Ming vessels; see a larger dish, the centre decorated with a stylised lotus flower within a gilt band and the well with the lotus scroll motif, from the Mrs. E. Clarke collection, sold in these rooms, 28th October 1982, lot 14.